Duplicates Expert – F.A.Q.

Mac Duplicate Finder

Duplicates Expert – Ultimate Duplicate Files Finder

1. It’s fast. Duplicates Expert has a really fast scanning algorithm to find duplicate files. 2. It allows to find duplicate files in multiple different folders at a time. Scanning of multiple disks is also possible. 3. It visually displays found duplicates as a bar chart. 4. It can find duplicates in hidden folders. 5. It provides you with Cleanup hints for fast duplicates removal. 6. It finds folder duplicates. 7. It even finds similar folders, even when they don’t have complitely duplicate content. We save them in Similars section. 8. It shows you visual progress of files selected for removal.

02. Similars - what is it?

Similars are folders that have both similar files and other files that are unique for every folder. There is no other app that finds similar folders. Read more about similars.

03. Folder duplicates and similars - what's the difference?

Folder duplicates have absolutely identical content, including files and subfolders. Similars are folders that have some identical files, and some unique.

04. Is it possible to get list of duplicates that use disk space the most?

Sure. Choose sort by Total size total size sort in duplicate file list, you will get duplicates list ordered by their total size (count*size).

05. Can I find duplicate file by name?

Scan a folder. Use search field in duplicates file list to find duplicate file by name duplicate file filter.

06. Is it possible to skip my subfolder from searching duplicates?

Yes. You should add any folder to Skip list. Use applications Preferences to setup it.

07. How to exclude some files from duplicates searching process?

As well, add the files to Skip list.

08. Are files removed permanently?

By default files and folders are removed to Trash. If you want to remove them permanently, enable Remove duplicates permanently option in Preferences.

09. After removing several duplicate files I got empty folder, is it possible to remove it automatically?

Yes. Enable the option Remove empty folders in preferences.

10. Can I find duplicates in hidden folders?

Yes. By default hidden folders are not scanned for duplicates. You can enable scanning hidden folders in Duplicates Expert’s Preferences. Go to Menu → Duplicates Expert → Preferences→ Scan tab or use ⌘, shortcut. Tick “Scan hidden folders” to start searching for hidden duplicates as well. Note, that changed Scan Options will be applied during the next scan. Please, be careful, when you operate hidden files, as removal some of them may damage the system.

11. Can I remove all file entries, including original file?

Sure. But by default this option is disabled. You can enable the option Allow removing all duplicate copies in application’s preferences.

Go to Menu → Duplicates Expert → Preferences or use a shortcut “⌘,”

Go to Remove tab

Tick “Allow removing all duplicate copies”

By enabling this option you can remove all the duplicates with original file. So, please, be careful, as you might remove both duplicate and original files and folders.

12. Can I find duplicates on external Disk Drive?

Yes. You can find duplicates at any drive that readable on OS X.

13. What Auto Select button does?

Auto Select button allows to select automatically duplicate files that have in their names words such us “copy”, “copy 2”, “copy of”, etc. Such names are usually created when you copy and paste a file and as a result your Mac adds to the name a word “copy” by default. Auto Select button selects all these copies. If you need to preview any other duplicate files then use “Select Any Copies” command.

14. How does “Select Any Copies” command differ from “Auto select” command?

Duplicates Expert searches for duplicates in your folders. It provides two ways of searching process.

1.Auto Select command

If you use Auto Select button, then the app selects automatically duplicates that are named with such words as “copy”, “copy 2”, “copy of”, etc. These names are usually created by default on your Mac when you make copies of files with copy pasting.

2.Select Any Copies command

If you need to preview any duplicate files and folders use “Select Any Copies” command. This command is available also via CMD+K keyboard shortcut.

15. Not all identical files are selected as duplicates. Why?

All files are scanned for duplicates by their content, not by name. If the files have different sizes and differ each from other by at least one byte, then these files can’t be duplicates.

16. How to speed up duplicates searching process?

You can make searching for duplicates faster by increasing the minimal size for files to be scanned. More

17. There are some duplicates on my Mac that Duplicates Expert doesn`t show. Why?

When the app is searching for duplicates it limits size of the files that have to be scanned, as in most cases, users need to find the biggest duplicates in an acceptable amount of time. You can change the settings to view all of the duplicates. Go to Menu → Scan → enable “Manually setup minimal file size” → set the slider to the position of “All files”. Note, that in this case duplicate searching time may increase significantly.